Some progress

I spent a little time on all my projects over the long weekend, but most of my time went to Josephine:

The stitch pattern is now memorized, and now that I've gotten used to working cotton on Addi's I can move pretty fast. My usual issues with knit columns on a purl ground are surfacing -- I'm hoping I can straighten them a bit when I block the pieces. I keep looking at the sample in IK, and am reassured that the knit columns wiggle there a little bit too. So far the gage is just right -- how often does that happen?

Here's a smallish photo of (nearly) the whole piece, so far. Smallish so that I can publicly pretend it's very very even knitting. Can you see how clever the shaping is? To get a bit of an A-line, the pattern calls for decreasing 1 purl stitch from the knit/purl pattern -- the stitches between the knit columns goes from 4 to 3. Almost imperceptible in the stitch pattern, but noticeable in the garment.

The Jaywalkers got some attention as the spouse and I drove around the furniture stores in search of hte Perfect Sofa. I was surprised at how quickly little bits added up to a couple of inches of knitting. We're driving to the Woodlands next weekend to visit his parents -- bet I can finish through the heel.

And, finally, Iris. Believe it or not, I did spend time ripping stitches this weekend. It is pitifully slow. No, I am not winding it into a skein so that I can "recondition" it properly. I'm just winding the damn stuff back into a ball and am going to knit it again. And I'm still trying to figure out why the garter stitch hem on the full-size piece curls but the hem on the swatch doesn't. This is going to be one of those projects that takes waaaaay too long. Am I weak to want to do something else with the knitting machine for a while?